And the Walls came down.

The are things in our lives which are big. Things that can consume us, that we spend every waking moment thinking about. These things are real but they haunt us like ghosts. They can be physical but they batter our emotions. They can be emotional yet they drain our strength. They can be in our minds but tangible, tangible yet untouchable.

We have many names for these things stumbling blocks, obstructions, walls, distractions, but they all have one thing in common – they diminish our relationship with God. they kick us when we are down, spit in our faces, and steal from us. Steal energy, steal money, steal emotion, steal strength and steal time, time that could be spend following Jesus. We may name them walls and alike, but don’t be fooled, these are not inanimate objects, they are sneaky and deliberate thieves.

The people of Israel had been promised a new land, and due to their own folly spent 40 years wandering around the desert before finally coming to Jericho – a great walled city that God had told them they would possess. Imagine you are a soldier in Israel’s army. You have heard the stories, you have waited your whole life for this moment. To go and take the land. And then the orders come down the line, and you are bewildered.

Walk around the wall? In silence? With only the priests trumpets blowing? Once a day for six days? SEVEN times on the seventh day? Are you mental? Let’s just boot the door in and go with swords like we normally do. It’s worked so far. But they don’t. Instead they follow orders and march around the city once a day for six days and seven times on the seventh. What do you think was going through their minds? I think it was the wall. They have walked round this beast, they have seen the height and width of it. It fills their minds – how will we ever break through? Why did we lose our advantage by not attacking straight away? What on earth is God doing?

I wonder how big the walls of your life have become in your mind? I wonder how long you have spend walking round them, consumed with them? I wonder if you wonder what God is up to?

Why did God let that wall become so big in their minds? Why does He let walls become so big in ours? Maybe it’s because when the seven day comes and that war cry goes up it will be left in no doubt who has acted. Because when the walls come down something more has happened than can be achieved by human strength. When the walls come down God has acted.

Joshua 6:20 (NIV) – ‘So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.’

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Nick writes at Ebs and Flows, a Christian blog that is one of my personal favorites to frequent. It’s always a source of encouragement and a place of challenge for me. Check it out if you haven’t already! To read the posts Nick has written for Grow Up! in the past, click HERE.

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